Philadelphia Project

Assessment of Unregulated Disinfection Byproducts in Philadelphia’s Water

The objective of this project is to provide innovative research into the occurrence of unregulated bulk and speciated disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in Philadelphia waters. Although the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) has been monitoring DBPs regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since the late 1970s, ongoing research has found that there are unregulated DBPs of higher toxicity than those currently regulated. As these DBPs are likely to be considered for future regulation, PWD is interested in further studying the nature and levels of unregulated DBPs being formed during water treatment. The project involves the study of bulk DBPs (total organic halogen) formed as well as a number of individual DBP species that are expected to be formed due to the nature of Philadelphia’s source waters and disinfection type.